


Insinuations

by Little_Cello



Category: Life on Mars (UK)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Episode Related, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-01
Updated: 2015-10-01
Packaged: 2018-04-24 07:51:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4911355
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Little_Cello/pseuds/Little_Cello
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A scene in the aftermath of Harry Woolf's arrest.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Insinuations

**Author's Note:**

> Written for a "pairing + angsty line" challenge on Tumblr; the prompt was "It's okay to cry..."

 “You what?”

 

Sam shied back at the snapped question, swallowing reflexively.

 

“I said, it's okay to cry...”

 

Wrong thing to say, apparently, because Gene, after a moment of icy silence, rose from his chair, and to say that he was glaring daggers at Sam would have been an understatement.

 

“What're you insinuating, Tyler?”

 

Sam was backing up as Gene closed in on him, his superior's sheer physical presence threatening to suffocate him. He wouldn't usually be cowering, but this was a different sort of anger altogether – this was something murderous, and Sam was suddenly painfully aware of how many things there were in Gene's office that could be used to bash his head in.

 

“'M not...” Sam stopped, clearing his throat, “I'm not insinuating anything – I just, I know how close you and Woolf were, I mean, he was your mentor, and...” He swallowed again, dryly – Gene was mere inches away from him now, and Sam took another step back – and felt the sharp edge of the filing cabinet in the small of his back.

 

“... and, er, Guv--”

 

“Let me tell you something, Tyler.”

 

God, so close, and his voice having dropped so dangerously low, Sam was starting to see his life flash in front of his eyes.

 

“This is part of the job, alright? I don't give a damn who we send down as long as they are villains, and it doesn't matter who they are, not one single bit. So Woolf is a lying thieving murdering _bastard_ – that means we send 'im down extra long! And I don't _care_ \--” Grabbing Sam's lapels here, tightly, pulling him forward and his voice growing steadily louder and louder, “-- if he was the bloke who taught me policing, it's his bloody loss we used that against 'im now, isn't it?! Should've known when he made me his deputy, should've bloody well known--”

 

Sam stared at Gene as he ranted on, hardly hearing the words anymore, because – because there was something strange in Gene's eyes, boring into his own. There was fury and rage, but also... despair. And, becoming more visible with every second, a tell-tale glimmer.

 

“-- so don't you _dare_ try and make me into something I'm not, Tyler, because I--” And there it was – a crack in his voice. “- I--!”

 

Gripping even harder, knuckles pressing into Sam's throat, making it hard to breathe.

 

“-- I....!”

 

And... just like that, Gene broke down. It was very unspectacular, not at all like his outburst of rage. He merely lowered his head, fringe obscuring his eyes, his shoulders trembling.

 

Almost automatically, Sam raised his arms – hesitated – and placed them gingerly on Gene's back. When he realised Gene wasn't going to lash out again, he scraped together his courage and slowly, ever so slowly, pulled his DCI into an awkward hug.

 

Gene wasn't sobbing, wasn't making a sound, but Sam could feel his shirt growing damp where Gene's face was pressed into it. Sam started to slowly rub a hand up and down Gene's back, not saying a word.

 

They stayed like this for a long time.

 

**

 

“ _Do you want my appraisal of you? ”_

 

“ _No.”_

 

“ _It's your round then. ”_


End file.
